DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-20, February 1, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages} ** AFGHANISTAN. Northern Alliance launches radio station on Internet Text of report by Afghan Northern Alliance newspaper `Payam-e Mojahed' web site on 27th January The weekly `Payam-e Mojahed' has initiated a radio station called Radio Voice of Mojahed [Dari: radio sada-e mojahed] which will be available via Internet. The aim of the radio is to provide further information to our compatriots about the developments in our country. The radio will begin its broadcast via Internet from Tuesday 12 Dalw, corresponding to 1st February 2000. Listeners can access the station by clicking on the title of Radio Voice of Mojahed which will be highlighted on the first page of the weekly `Payam-e Mojahed'. The Radio Voice of Mojahed will broadcast the latest developments of our dear country from inside Afghanistan in Dari and Pashto on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1900 Afghanistan's time [1430 gmt]. Initially, the programmes of the Radio Voice of Mojahed will include recitation of few verses from the holy Koran, news and a piece of Afghan music. Total duration of the broadcast will be 20 minutes each day. In view of the fact that our listeners might have work commitments, the broadcast of each day's programme will be available on the Internet for a week Dear listeners can send their comments and sound criticism via the electronic address of `Payam-e Mojahed' and address them to the office of Radio Voice of Mojahed. [Payam-e Mojahed's web site is at http://www.payamemujahid.com ] Source: `Payam-e Mojahed' web site, Parwan, in Dari 27 Jan 00 (via BBC Monitoring via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Today I talked with the Comando Antartico question by my friend that worked at LRA36 in the past year. The contact here at Comando Antartico give me the information that LRA36 was inactive in all this time during the 'change' of personal & militaries to Base Esperanza and all previous staff is returned here. Today or tomorrow probable is coming to Base Esperanza the new endowment, and probably in the next days will be reactivated the stn, as usual on 15476, but I not know if the times will be the sames as the past year (Gabriel Ivan Barrera, Argentina, Jan 27, BC-DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476.0 LRA36 R Nac Arcangel, 1455, heard with very good signal in Buenos Aires, checked at this time by my friend Norberto Pugliese, as I'm in my job office. As I talked yesterday to my friend at Base Esperanza, they will bc Mon-Sat 1400-2100 on SW 15476, from 1400-1800 only mx with news each 30 mins, and from next Wed 2 Febr, the progrs between 1800-2100 will be as usual, progrs talking about ARG land and Antarctic comments, from 1400-1800 will broadcast mx. On Suns they probably will bc only three hrs, with mx only (tentative). The new chief at Base Esperanza (and in consequence of LRA36) is Mr. Carlos Alberto Drews (Gabriel Ivan Barrera, Argentina, Jan 31, BC-DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. 6010,0 at 0407, SINPO 35333, Belaruskoje R., Brest clear ID, weather report, hit music, only 5 kW, audible only during transmission break of TRT Turkey at 0407-0412 Jan 27 6040,0 at 1439, SINPO 24322, Belarusskoe R., Minsk 10 kW, home service program 1, hit music //6070 (5 kW) 6115 (10 kW) 7110 (5 kW) 7210 (75 kW) Jan 28 6070,0 at 0321, SINPO 44444 R. Minsk Belarus military orchestra, frequencies and times, IS //1170 7210 Jan 27 6928,0 at 1914, SINPO 25322, Belarusskoe Radio mixing product, HS-1, modulation totally distorted, classical music, ID //6070 6115 7210 Jan 28 (Hans-Joachim Koch, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RCI Engineering issued a revision of its frequency schedule dated 30.12.99, showing that the 2200 half-hour to Europe/Africa in English has been expanded to a full hour. (Thus, it is possible to broadcast a longer than half hour program such as Quirks and Quarks on Saturdays). At 2200-2259 Sackville is on 5995, 13690, 15325; Skelton on 7235, 9805. Note that at 2100-2159, 5995 is Skelton instead of Sackville (Glenn Hauser, from sked via Bill Westenhaver, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. UN's Radio Minurca closes, new station planned Text of report by the French news agency AFP Bangui, 1st February: "Radio Minurca [UN Mission for Central African Republic] has had the great pleasure of informing and entertaining the people of the Central African Republic [CAR] since July 1998 (....) Thank you for listening." Radio Minurca, the first UN radio station to be heard on the air waves seven days a week, 24 hours a day, ceased broadcasting today at 0715 local time (0615 gmt). The station, which was as widely listened to on FM in Bangui as Radio France Internationale and Libreville-based Africa No 1, as well as on shortwave throughout the CAR, had become familiar to Central Africans, who do not have any highly circulated written press. In between Congolese music and BBC bulletins, Radio Minurca has accompanied the restoration of peace to the CAR and the holding of the 1998-99 parliamentary and presidential elections since its first broadcast on 24th July 1998. It broadcast programmes in French and the national Sango language, educating the public on the workings of democratic elections, human rights, and informing them about the progress made on the road to peace. The radio held live debates, which were sometimes heated in a country highly divided following the three violent mutinies of 1996 and 1997. "The debates helped to loosen tongues," says David Smith, the Canadian director of the station, who was among the five Central African journalists and two technicians of his team. At Camp Baal, Bangui's main military base, the last Minurca soldiers are getting ready to leave the CAR. Soon, the studio material will be flown to Sierra Leone, where another UN force has been deployed. Although it is a "sad and emotional" time, the Radio Minurca team is fighting to set up another UN radio station in Bangui under the auspices of the UN Development Programme and with the assistance of Fondation Hirondelle, a Swiss NGO. Tita Samba, announcer and director at Radio Minurca, has not been paid for two weeks now, but he always reports to duty. "It is our dream to be able to express ourselves freely in our country and our duty to show our compatriots that we can do things ourselves," he said. Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in French 1039 gmt 1 Feb 00 (BBC Monitoring via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. From Feb 1, CRI is heard in London via World Radio Network and Spectrum Radio weekdays at 2300 UT on 558 kHz. CRI is also added to WRN's satellite European and North American services plus overnight relays in several American cities (WRN press release via BBC Monitoring summarised by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. QSL de Radio Praga para el 2000 R. Prague has edited a new series of seven QSLs for this year to confirm reception reports. They deal with different aspects of Czech broadcasting: n Airport hanger once used for broadcasting n Litomysl transmitter site n TV tower n Czech broadcasting building n First Czechoslovak president n 1935 bus n Achievements of Czech broadcasting (Eduard Boada i Aragonès, Spain, Noticias DX translated by Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)) ** GUATEMALA. I was traveling through the mountainous parts of Guatemala in January 2000 and here are some changes with respect to the 1998 WRTH (the latest version that I have)... SW stuff: signals were heard from all other stations listed in the WRTH but not mentioned below. IDs were heard from all except R. Cultural 3300, R. Chortis 3380, R. Cultural Coatan 4780 and LV de Guatemala 6180. R. Mam 4825 was heard only in the Mam language – no SS. 2360 R. Maya not heard in spite of hearing weak R. Maya on 3325 2390 LV de Atitlan Not on the air --- see below 4845 R. Kekchi not heard tho I did not pass close to Fray Bartolome de las Casas 5955 R. Cultural not on the air 5980 Union Radio not on the air 6180 LV de Guatemala not on the air The influx of evangelical stations since my last visit is absolutely amazing. One half of the stations in Guatemala City are now evangelical. The rest may be by the time this hits print. It was very surprising to see that some of what were the biggest stations in Guat City are off the air. For example, in the past 670, 880 and 1180 were all important stations in Guatemala. They were all heard by DXers in the US in times long past. On a sad note, La Voz de Atitlan is no longer broadcasting on 1490 and 2390. Almost 3 years ago they were forced to abandon AM and SW due to the costs of operation in relation to the benefits. Only FM is now used. This station also was caught in the middle of the painful civil war in Guatemala; in the early 80`s the Guatemalan army forced it off the air and its director was killed by assumed paramilitary forces. The station survived all of this only to eventually lose its battle to broadcast due to finances. The antennas are taken apart but they and the transmitters are in storage should funding ever be available; the station is run by a community organization and depends entirely on funding from external organizations. Should any of NRC`s wide-spread audience be aware of funding sources, LV de Atitlan would certainly appreciate being put in touch. (Chuck Hutton, National Radio Club International DX Digest Jan 31, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, were they really on 1490 or just a convenient image of 2390, and what is the active FM frequency?? (Hauser, DXLD) ** IRELAND. 12255,0 at 1830, SINPO 15422 Radio Fax in English Religious program, The glory of god //6295 3910 Jan 30 (Hans-Joachim Koch, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) **ISRAEL. Keep your eyes on http://www.israelradio.org/english.html . In a couple of weeks, there will be a live internet/satellite stream of many of Kol Israel's foreign language radio broadcasts. The satellite broadcast is over Europe.... more details coming. English broadcasts to be streamed live via web/satellite are at: 1135 UTC (6:35 AM EST) [only 5 minutes -gh] and 2000 UTC (3 PM EST) The recorded 1500 UTC (10 AM EST) broadcast will continue as a recorded broadcast (available on http://www.israelradio.org/english.html , usually within minutes of the finish of the actual live broadcast). Of course, on shortwave, all four broadcasts (0500 (midnight EST), 1135, 1500 and 2000 UTC) are available... live only - and the 1500 UTC broadcast is available (rebroadcast at a later time) on many radio stations around the world, including "WRN on NPR" in the middle of the night local time on many local NPR stations. (Daniel Rosenzweig, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Glenn, Radio Pyongyang in English with a good signal on this "early" afternoon here in Wisconsin (Jan 31). 11710 at 1900 to 1955 UT. We will not try and spit hairs on the actual frequency as the signal was drifting over this 55 min broadcast, one min below 11710 say by almost 100 Hz next min high by 100 Hz. Regards, (David Zantow, Janesville, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. News in English and a series of VOA programmes could be heard on Radio Madagascar at 16.30 UTC (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Frequencies? Until? (gh) ** MEXICO [non]. [cf DXLD 00-19] Commandante Null is better known as Mike Adams of NPC Information Associates in Atlanta. This isn’t new, it was a replay of a program that ran on RFPI in the spring of 1999, Chiapas, the World Speaks. It aired on RFPI only briefly. I spoke with Adams today and he said that he posted a real audio file of this program the other day at his website- http://www.mindspring.com/~exomike/ Unbeknownst to Adams, a US pirate then recorded the audio and put it on shortwave. Having said that, Adams is considering making additional programs available. He has a total of ten. So if the pirates are up for it, there may be more programs from this "clandestine". (Hans Johnson, Jan 31, Cumbre DX Special via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now known as Michael Leo Lively, Adams has a twisted sense of humor immediately evident on the webpage. Makes one wonder how seriously the Chiapas show should be taken. Perhaps I will succeed in listening to all of it. One also questions the nativity of a commander who does not know how to spell Comandante (Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. [Cf DXLD 00-19: What do you know about Hellschreiber?] This was written up in Ham Radio Magazine in the '70's. As I remember it, it used a paper tape to print text messages at the receiver, as a replica image of the original (sender) tape. There was a rotating detector head that would helically optically scan the pre-lettered tape (looking like an old Western Union telegram paper tape) at a steep angle, when scanning a letter on the tape at the sending end it would send a pulse to the receiver, each time the scanner crossed one of the bars of the letter, whose sync'ed scanner head would (thermally?) burn a similar image on the receiver's tape. The letters might each have 10 or 15 scan lines through them, making them easily readable by eye. This is much like weather maps by fax, but there was no greyscale, just B&W. When the scanning or tape drive speeds were not in agreement, the line of letters would "barber-pole" across the paper tape. I suppose the receiver guy had to keep it aligned? A good benefit was the ability to send reasonably fast data information rates across a serial data link of low fidelity. I haven't heard of this in years. Surprised anyone remembers it. I suppose hearing it today on radio would just be random rapid short bursts of "fsk" data, but it's a non-obvious mode, isn't it? (Robert Foxworth, FL, hard-core-dx Jan 31, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) In 1967 I met Mr. engineer Rudolf Hell in person, during the inauguration of the very first CRT - Cathode Ray Tube typesetting machine in Europe, which was developed by Engineer Hell Company in Kiel in 1966 [later merged to SIEMENS company]. I worked there five years as system analyst on the Siemens 3000 system. Hell was one of the greatest German inventors of the previous century, amongst Prof. Manfred von Ardenne and Mr. Bruch, they developed early tv experiments between 1927 and 1940. At that time in the Fifties and Sixties the Hellschreiber technology was in use by the well-known PRAVDA printing house in the then USSR, to distribute plain scanned newspaper pages online at large distances to the various printing houses in Siberia and the Far East regions for reprinting the Communist Party central organ. Though not spectacular at present ... (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, Feb 1, BC-DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Delivery of two new SW transmitters to Abuja is being expedited to enhance FRCN's national coverage (The Guardian website Jan 31 via BBC Monitoring, summarised by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 11987,3 at 1353, SINPO 35333 RRI in English, ID, hit music, Sport on this weekend //11940 – once again an amazing spur from a nearby frequency, Jan 28 (Hans-Joachim Koch, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Mikhail, Tnx for the info on VOR Spanish. I assume you mean that these frequencies are from your site. But are there others from elsewhere? How about MW 1323 from Germany as Kai Ludwig speculated? (Glenn) No, all freqs from other sites (I know only that one of them is from Moscow). St. Petersburg does not have curtain antennas to SW Europe, but Kaliningrad has some ones with 245 degrees. I do not think that 1323 from Germany will be in use for this broadcast... (Mikhail Timofeyev, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AMERICA. PIRATE, 14564.95 LSB, Radio Blandengue heard with fair to even good reception at 0132 tune-in, nonstop Latin music, with only brief intros, mentioning Cuba, Mexico and Panama. No English. Started to fade towards the end. Believe I heard an ID at 0156. Off the air in mid sentence at exactly 0200:00. Much stronger than I've ever heard 6950. Worth checking next weekend if they are on again (from 0000 to 0200 UT Sat/Sun) (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria BC, 30 January, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. WorldWide Radio inaugurará sus emisiones próximo 17 de febrero WorldWide Radio, la primera emisora de radio profesional de España que emite exclusivamente por Internet, estrenará su programación el próximo 17 de febrero, después de tres meses en periodo de pruebas. El presidente de la Generalitat, Jordi Pujol, presidirá el acto de inauguración que se celebrará en el Museo de Cera de Barcelona. Asimismo, el mismo día WorlWide Radio estrenará, dentro de su webside, su servicio de formación a distancia, con cursos on line sobre periodismo, idiomas y nuevas tecnologías, así como una ciudad virtual de comercio electrónico. La web de la emisora ha sido visitada por más de 15.000 personas durante el periodo de pruebas, las cuales han podido escuchar una selección de las noticias más destacadas de la actualidad, tanto en catalán como en castellano. El próximo mes de marzo, la emisora pondrá en marcha una exposición itinerante divulgativa llamada «La radio en Internet» que recorrerá las principales ciudades catalanas y después el resto de España. (Agustín Sanjuanes, Noticias DX) [Spain`s first professional web-only radio station will commence on Feb 17 after a 3-month test period during which its website had more than 15 kilovisits. News items in Spanish as well as Catalan were provided. WorldWide Radio will also provide on-line instruction in journalism, languages, new technology : Summary translation by gh; an earlier report of this said they planned to use additional languages including English, and the name itself is in English. URL not given here but it was something very simple like http://www.wwr.es which does not now work (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)] ** SUDAN [non]. 9517,2 at 1750, SINPO 24322, clandestine Voice of Sudan in vernacular with folksongs, mentioned ``Democratic Sudan" c/d 17.59. Nothing to be heard at this time on 8000 + 9000 Jan 28 (Hans-Joachim Koch, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K O G B A N I. The following is from Robert Leighton of the Stafford Broadcasting Society: Stafford Broadcasting Society, providers of the 'Imagination' programme broadcast as part of the Merlin Network One (MNO) programme stream, has now received official notification from Merlin Communications International of the likelihood of the termination of its existing contract on MNO. Merlin have told us "the reasons for this is the lack of resources available to push the original revenues for advertising our 5 minute slot at the top of the hour as well as optimising our studio facilities". (Note that for some time Merlin have, in fact, been providing 59 minutes each hour to their clients and retaining only 1 minute as their advertising slot, as I understand it, to "retain the programme flow"). The two members of staff at the MNO studio site were given notice of redundancy on Thursday 13th January. We have known for some time that the current MNO service was subject to change after receiving information last year of the refusal by Merlin to offer an hourly rate to a potential MNO client, but their readiness to offer a yearly rate of -L-150k to that potential client for an Astra feed - probably that currently in use by MNO. Existing Merlin customers are now being offered shortwave transmission facilities on a 60-minute hourly basis, and/or continuation of the existing Sirius 2 feed, although Astra and/or studio facilities are "unlikely" to be offered. Imagination's soft rock programme is currently transmitted in stereo across Europe on Astra transponder 58, and around the world on shortwave in the 49 metre band on 6010kHz between 1901 and 2000 UTC. [FRIDAYS ONLY -gh] If MNO does come to an end and the Astra feed is no longer available, Imagination is likely to broadcast as a radio station in its own right and with its own identity, utilising the existing 250kW shortwave transmitter and 10MW(!) beam in current use. The location of the transmitter, the direction of the beam, and the time and the frequency of the transmission provides excellent reception across most of the world. (Robert Leighton/Stafford Broadcasting Society via Dave Kenny, BDXC E-Mail News Feb 1 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn: This schedule for the new 25-minute CW via NewsNow corrects a few mistakes from the schedule I announced this past weekend. [as in DXLD 00-18] COMMUNICATIONS WORLD ON VOA NEWS NOW A 25-minute version of Communications World is broadcast by VOA News Now Saturday at the following times (actual start time is about 32:30 past the hour, just after the news summary at the bottom of the hour): To Pacific/East Asia/South Asia 0132 7115 7200 9850 11820 15250 15300 17740 17820 0932 11995 13650 15150 1332 6110 9355 9645 9760 11705 11920 15425 21550 1732 6110 7125 9645 15395 2132 11870 15185 17735 17820 To Middle East/North Africa/Europe 0132 1548 0532 7170 9700 11825 15205 0932 1197 Astra* 1332 1197 Astra* 1732 6040 9760 15205 2132 1260 1548 6040 6095 9595 9760 *Astra analog, transponder 31, 11.671 gHz H-Pol, audio subcarrier 7.56 MHz To Africa 0532 909 5970 6035 6080 7295 9775 12080 1732 11920 12040 15240 15445 17895 To the Americas 0132 5995 6130 9455 0532 6035 Yes, the DSB transmissions via Greenville continue (Sat 0700 6873, Sun 1400 18275). Those will be the unabridged 28-minute version, i.e. as heard via WRN. 73 (Kim Andrew Elliott, Producer and Presenter, Communications World, Voice of America, Washington, D.C. 20237 USA, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. NPR has a new (monthly?) web-only music program playing complete pieces from which `buttons` on All Things Considered have been excerpted, ``All Songs Considered`` at http://npr.org/programs/asc/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###